8th Birthday!

Friday the whole crew of us (Us and the Grandparents Russell) went to the Art Museum. We passed through the Rose Garden on the way there.

Nico was drawn to art that had shapes and numbers in it. When we found the kids exploration area, he tried out all the toys and built a symmetrical shape on the wall.

Afterward we went to the Boise Fry Company for lunch and then walked over to the library, then headed on home.

Grandma and Nico went outside and had boat races in the water.

Saturday, we split forces, the Grandparents with Nico and Guy went to the Saturday Market, I picked up the cakes and got some last minute things for the party. On their way home they stopped by a shop to pick up some stuff so Grandpa could improve our table a bit.

He used markers and then later some leather dye to fill in the rough spots on the table. Then he polished it. Verrrrry impressive.

It's like a brand new table!

Grandpa brought us this tiny build-it-yourself arcade game. So stinkin' cute and it plays lots of games. 

Saturday afternoon we went to Blue Cow Frozen Yogurt. We saw a sign for an open house and decided to follow it on the way home! We toured a house across from Municipal Park. It was very nice.

Before bed on Saturday night I set up the table with presents for Nico.

One of his gifts from us was a monthly subscription to "Little Passports", he will receive a new box with stuff about the United States in it every month for 6 months. This first box contained a US Map and a field journal, plus some other stuff.

We celebrated Nico's birthday at Smoky Mountain Pizza. Check out the video at the end of the blog to see some of the highlights!

Waiting for friends and family to arrive!

His super-cute hug of the pink elephant GG made for him

Playing tag

 Playing Ball

When we got home he went straight to work playing with Kanoodle. Consistently this has been the game he keeps coming back to after playing other games. He loves it!

On Monday, Nico and Grandma Russell and I joined Allicia and kids at the Natatorium to swim. I forgot my phone so I have no evidence that this happened, but it did! :) They have a nice kiddie pool there, big, only gets up to maybe 1 1/2 feet perhaps? It was a bit warmer in there than the big pool, so Nico lasted much longer swimming this time! It was also over 100 degrees that day, so I think that helped too ;) He did spend some time in the big pool, but most was in the kiddie. 

We ordered Chipotle for dinner that night! Yum!

Tuesday morning we said Goodbye to Grandpa and Grandma Russell. We had a blast with them here and are looking forward to their return at Christmas!

We packed Nico up shortly after and I drove him over to Papa and Grandma Salisbury's house for another Grandma Camp! I received some pictures and video throughout, here is Nico riding the zip line at Urban Air! (Also check out the video at the end of the blog!)

Playing Scrambled States of America

While Nico was gone, I worked hard to sort through his toys and clear out the area underneath his bed so we could set up a little play area. I boxed up 3 boxes of toys for the storage unit. Guy sawed one of our cube shelves in half, giving us two 2x3 cube shelves, one for either side of the area. We also purchased LED lights to hang under there so he can see what he's doing.

I picked him up from Grandma Camp this afternoon, he showed me his new light-up shoes! They even came with a charger!!

When we got home I showed him his new play area and he was happy about it. Evelyn came over for dinner tonight and I let them eat under his bed while watching funny shows. Then tonight instead of reading in bed, he went under his bed and played. He spread out his US Map for a bit, then discovered some other toys and played with quite a few of them. He did keep bonking his head. And after a particularly hard bonk he whimpered and said "Mommy WHY did you put this play area under my bed?? WHY didn't you put it somewhere else?!?!??!"

When he was done playing he unplugged his LED lights and crawled into his bed.

Goodnight! But first watch this video!

Birthday Party, VBS, and Grandparents Russell!

Last Friday was Avery's birthday, and his party! He had a Mario birthday.

There was a pinata, and Koopa Troopa cupcakes and yummy barbecued pizza.

Saturday was a slow day at home, pizza at night. Nico has been really enjoying the old MacGyver shows. It was his turn to choose the show on Saturday and he chose to watch MacGyver. Nico asks a lot of questions and Guy tells him everything. It's been quite a learning and entertaining experience for him. Guy and I enjoy watching him be so interested in all the things that MacGyver is doing. We watched an episode on Tuesday night that he didn't care for, though. One of the people in the show died being eaten by ants. Shortly after this happened he said he didn't want to watch it anymore and to go to the next episode. I totally agree, Nico. Sorry you had to see that :(

Here's our setup at our new table, watching MacGyver on the iPad.

VBS started on Monday. All the kiddos went. Allicia picked them up today, the last day of VBS, and Nico remarked to her that he didn't want to do the VBS next year! I will have to ask him why when I get a chance. Every day he would take his name tag off after getting home and put it on the fridge. He wants to keep them.

There is a video at the end with VBS scraps.

 Playing in our new hallway.

Nico and I played Hang Man one morning, and one his words was "GG". I told him that wasn't a word and he said "YES IT IS! Grandma GG!" We went to see GG and Aunt Pat on Monday after VBS. She gave me a peek at his birthday present :D

On Wednesday we went to Bricks & MiniFigs to get some party favors for the kids coming to Nico's party on Sunday. He built a MiniFig for each kid who is coming. I love the one he made for Evelyn.

Guy fixed the corner booth chair by attaching a wooden leg that Papa had cut for us (Thanks Pa!) Guy added a cut at the top so that it was stair stepped and attached easily with screws to the chair. It is now safe to sit on!

Today was travel day for Grandpa and Grandma Russell! They arrived this evening!! We went right to work putting together the puzzle we needed to do for a birthday party game on Sunday. It was a fun way to jump into it.

Grandma and Nico read comics before bed. Then she tucked him in.

I'm so happy they're here! It will be a great weekend!

Here's the VBS video. Plus Nico playing "The Floor is Lava". There are so many new obstacles to learn how to jump over in our newly arranged house. And now that he's a stuntman, thanks to Parkour Camp, he knows how to take risks ;)

The Clubhouse, and Moscow!

Last Saturday was a big day - we rearranged the Clubhouse! We added our huge table from our storage unit and moved everything else around to accommodate. You can check out the video at the end of the blog to see the process.

The table is a corner table, the one that used to be in my parents' cabin! The corner piece of the bench is supposed to be supported by wall on each side, but we have no wall for it to touch, so it is unusable at the moment, else you fall through and land on the floor! Our plan is to add a third leg (well, fourth leg), so that it can stand on its own. We will get this done this weekend.

On Monday, Grandma Camp started! Grandma Salisbury picked Nico up at 9AM and they drove to Mountain Home to pick up more cousins. On Tuesday the whole crew drove up to Moscow, ID in a rented passenger van.

Mom sent me these pool pictures the evening they got into town. Playing in the same hotel pool he was playing in when we visited in June!

(After Nico got home tonight I had him tell me what was happening in each picture)

Running in the water

Playing with paddle boards

Eating at Mad Greek. He got the sparkling burger without the bun

With Grammy

At Grammy's house

Sitting around Grammy's table, she handed out popsicles. Each popsicle had a joke on it. "What did the rabbit give his girlfriend? A 14 carrot ring."

At Kamiak Butte, Nico was interviewing my Aunt Margy. Each grandkid was assigned someone to interview. Grandma provided interview questions in each kid's black binder (as seen on table).

On the stage where Grandma and Papa were married.

On their way home from Moscow today they stopped to see my Aunt Mary Anne, I'm so glad they were able to do that! She sent home some walnuts from their tree, and pears for us. Can't wait to add the walnuts to the banana bread I need to make with our bananas. I will grind them up first... Nico won't eat it if he can tell there's nuts in it! Heehee. But it makes the bread taste sooooo good. Thank you Aunt Mary Anne!!!

And here's the whole travel crew

They were also delayed in Riggins for a few hours because of a crash on the highway that closed the roads for a while. I kept checking their location on my phone. It was nice to be able to do that :) I picked him up from my parents' house at 6:30 tonight.

This week while Nico was gone, Guy and I went over to my parents' empty house to watch a movie on Tuesday. Other things we did this week - we hung new blinds in The Clubhouse and watched a lot of shows on Netflix! Guy was still working during the day so we did fun things in the evening. One evening we even went somewhere after dinner! Not verrrry exciting, but just something unique we don't usually do (leaving the house after dinner, that is).

On to the video!